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H. L. BEAL. RUBBER HEEL.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 17. I9l8.

. 1,428,524. I PatentedSept. 12, 1922".

Patented Sept. 12, 1922.

UNITED STATES HERMAN L. BEAL, OF BROOKLINE, MASSACHUSETTS.

RUBBER HEEL.

Appheation-filed June 17, 1918. Serial No. 240,375.

To aZZ whom it may coacei a Be 1t known that I, HERMAN L. BEAL, a cltizen of the United States, residing at Brookline, in the county of Norfolk and State of lVlassaohusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rubher Heels; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descrip tion. of the invention, such as 'will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The present invention relates to an improvement in rubber heels. v

Concavo-convex heels such as shown in the N erger Patent No. 661,122 commend themselves by reason of the close union which they secure between their edges and the edges of the heels to which they are applied. The heels of the Tufford Patent Re. No. 14,049 commend themselves to the user for the same reason, but they are liable to bulge between the nails. The latter, however, are attached by nails which pass through washers embedded in the heels, and the former by screws which pass through holes in a centralplat e. Owing to; the dis tortion of concave-convex heels incident to attaching them totheshoe it is more or less dii'licult to apply these heels securely to the shoe. The loosening of one of the nails of 'luitord permits the adjacent portion of the heel to bulge outwarc'lly; the use of separate scrmvs as .in Nerger requires more time and skill to attach the heel. l'looper in his lactent No. 1,936,174; proposed to embed a flat plate in his concave-convex heel, and to provide it with protrluling nails by which the heel could quickly be attached 'to'a shoe.

lloopors plate, however, was stiff and flat, and when. the heel was liattened upon the shoe heel itcaused the bending of theheel body to be localized at the edges oi the plate, with the result that the compression ot the material on the convex side of the heel. was correspondingly localized. and a bulge or ridge on the tread surface resulted therefron'i. It obviously desirable to eliminate this bulge or ridge, and to this end the curvature of the heel. should he continuous tln'oughout, so .thatthere will be no localized bending of the heel. As an inci dent to this end. tocontribute to the exclusion of localized bending, the heel' ,in its ln'eil'erred :fiorm'contemplates the use of a nail plate-curvedto.correspond to the curvuture of the heel, arul miule ol flexible mate rial so as to bend with the heel when it is iiattened out on the shoe heel. The present invention, therefore, contemplates a rubber heel of continuous curvature preferably provided with a nail plate curved to correspond with the curvature of the heel and made of flexible material so as to bend with the heel as the latter is applied to the shoe, and having rigidly attached nails so that when the heel is nailed on the shoe heel, the heeland plate bend together and the bending of the heel is extended throughout the whole body of the heel. v I

Another feature of the present invention consists in making the nails slightly divergent. This feature of construction con tributes to the secure attaching of the heel to theshoe for two reasons, first, because the nails diverge in the body of the heel, thereby tending to flatten theheelon the shoe, and, second, because since they diverge they have increased holding capacity for securing the heel to the shoe.

The present invention consi'stsin the rubber heel hereinafterdescribed and particularly defined in the-claims. i v i In the accompanying drawingsFigui-e 1 is a perspective of the preferred form of the heel embodying the improvements of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a plan of the heel shown in Fig. 1, showing particularly the location of the nail-holding plate; Fig. 3 is a transverse section taken on the line 33 of Fig. 9. looking in the direction of'the arrow; Fig. 4: is a transverse section showing the rubber heel attached to the heel of a boot or shoe; and Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section taken along the line 5 5 of Fig. 2 looliingiu the direction of? the arrow.

'llhe heel shown in the accompanying drawings is a COHCZlJfl O COIlVGX heel of the general shape shown in the Nerger patent, that is to say, the heel comprises a body portion of which theupper side edges 10 and the upper rear edge 11 he in one plane whereas the upper breast edge 12 is depressed below the plane in which the upper side and rear edges lie. The upper face or surlace 14 of the heel constitutes its attachlai-e, this being the face-which is applied to the bottom. otthe' 'leath'er-he'elfof the boot or shoe to which the rubber heel is attached. This attaching face 'lat'curves upwardly laterally from its bottom 15 to the upper side edges 10. Thebot'tom 15, together with the adjacent lateral part of the attaching face,

lies parallel with the plane of the upper side edges 10 to substantially the point 16 5) which may conveniently be two-thirds or thereabouts the length of the heel. From this point 16 to the rear edge 11 of the heel, the attaching face let curves rearwardly and upwardly. The bottom side edges 18 of the rubber heel and the bottom rear edge 19 all he in a plane parallel to the plane in which the upper side edges 10 and rear edge 11 lie. The bottom breast edge 20 curves conformably to the upper breast edge 12 and the bottom. face or tread surface 22 oil? the heel is curved correspondingly to the curvature of the attaching face 14.

The nail-holding plate corresponds in curvature to the curvature of the part of the heel in which the plate is embedded. So in the illustrated embodiment of the invention the nail-holding plate is laterally curved and longitudinally straight because that part of the heel in which the plate is embedded is laterally curved and longitudinally straight. llhe plate, therefore, lies parallel with both the attaching face 14; and the tread surface 22.

The nail-holding plate 24% lies much nearer the attaching face 14 of the heel than it does the tread face or surface 22 to permit the heel to wear away substantially twothirds of its thickness beiore exposing the nail holding plate 24:.

Fixed uprightly in this nail-holding plate 24- are the nails 25 which protrude from the attaching face 14 of the heel and are adapted to be driven into the leather heel of. the boot or shoe. These nails are arranged divergently. T he divergence is such that the distance between two nail points is equal to the distance between their-shanks at the surface of the heel measured along such surface.

The heel is applied to the leather heel of the boot or shoe by placing the shoe on a metal-bottomed last or jack, supporting the rubber heel in the proper position over the heel of the shoe, and hammering on the bottom of the heel so as thereby to drive the nails into the heel oi? the shoe, and, it they are long enough, to clinch them against the last or jack. In driving the nails home the heel is flattened out on the bottom of the shoe heel, the nails diverging somewhat more as the heel approaches its final position. Not only do the nails by reason of their divergence hold the heel more securely on the shoe, but they thereby tend to bend the heel and flatten it out against the shoe heel so that the entire attaching face of the heel will tightly hug the heel of the shoe, not only throughout the marginal portion, but also tlu'oughout the central portion.

The present invention may be embodied in any type ()i comaxm-convex heel whether spherically concavo-convex like the heel o't l erguson Patent No. (338,228 and the Tuttitord patent above referred to or of the Nerger shape, or otherwise. The nail-holding plate may be oi? any desired shape or form preferably corresponding in curvature to the curvature of the part oi the heel .in which the plate is embedded. While the diver ent nail feature of the invention is more useirul when employed in connection with nail-holding means consisting oi a plate, it is apparent that it might be used in connection with any suitable nailholding means to obtain the more secure attachment of a heel to a shoe.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed is:

1. A rubber heel comprising a body portion having a continuously curved concave attaching face and a correspondingly curved convex tread face, a flexible nail-holding plate embedded. in the central portion oil the heel corresponding in shape to the curvature of the part of the heel in which the plate is embedded, and a plurality of divergent attaching nails fixed. in the plate and protruding from the attaching i ace.

2. A rubber heel of continuously curved concave-convex l orm throughout, a flexible curved metallic nail holding plate embedded in the central portion of the heel shaped to correspoinl to the cuiwature of the part of the heel in which it is embedded, and. a plurality of attaching nails rigidly lined in the plate and protruding rom the attaching lace oi the heel, the flexibility ot the plate operating to permit the heel, to be llattencd again: 1 the shee heel withol'lt localized bending in the plate when the dill'ereut nails encounter dilierent degrees o'l. resistance in being driven into the shoe heel.

3. fr. rubber heel coii'rprising a body portion haying a concave attaching l'ace, nailholding means embedded in the heel, and a plurality of div ent attaching nails lined in the nail-holdn means and protruding from the attaching face.

4L. It rubber heel comprising a rumnallv concave convex body portion, a nail. holding plate curved in uniformity with the curwlture oi? the heel and. embedded in the body portion, and a plurality o't divergent attaching nails fixed in the plate and protruding from the attaching iace oi the heel.

5. A rubber heel cmnpriifig a normally concavo convex body portion, a nail holding plate curved in conformity with the curvature of the body portion. and. embedded in the body portion, and a plurality ol divergent attaching nails fixed in the plate and having their points sepz'i-rated a dis-:tance substantially equal to the distance between their shanks at the attacldng surface of the heel measured along such surface.

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